


Light the Way

by orphan_account



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Lightborn Project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-07
Updated: 2012-10-07
Packaged: 2017-11-15 19:12:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/530730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean and Castiel want to get out of Purgatory, but it's proving to be difficult. But they're definitely not alone in this endless place, so they search for answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Light the Way

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for the Lightborn Project by everkings on tumblr, for you guys to read. You should all go read Lightborn. It's nine kinds of pretty. Here be lots of Greek mythology. Anyways, thank you so much for reading! :)

Sam wants to believe Dean's out there somewhere, but he's learned these past months not to trust what he sees. So he sets out to gather more information on Purgatory, calling in old favors and scouring ancient texts. He comes up with a whole lot of nothing, between the fights with leviathan that leave him covered in borax and black blood. 

He's even more busy now that leviathan don't have a boss-nowadays, they want nothing more than to eat him up. Once he made the unfortunate mistake of thinking that whatever was killing the locals was a demon, when it was really leviathan. They only laughed harder when he stabbed them with Ruby's knife.

Sucrocorp has been forgotten. It was covered up in the news, of course, a dozen conspiracies and rumors to explain Dick Roman's absence. Whenever Sam goes to the supermarket, more and more shoppers are aware of their surroundings, as opposed to the zombie-like daze the corn syrup had put them in. A few of them are still walking into walls, though.

It looks like it's going to be a while before everything's normal again.

Sam still sleeps uneasily, hoping for some chance of seeing Dean. His computer has ten tabs of information on Purgatory, half of which he had to hack into, and which also include a video of the Ghostfacers throwing borax on leviathan and screaming.

It's so quiet. Dean and Cas are in Purgatory, Crowley's taken Kevin god knows where, and he hasn't seen Meg since they left her outside Sucrocorp. Bobby's gone...well, Bobby's just gone, and Frank's not picking up on any of the numbers he gave them, though Sam hasn't been expecting much after they saw the blood in his trailer. Now it's just him, alone in this moldy room. 

After Dean and Cas disappeared, Sam found an extended-stay motel and settled down to try to do something-anything-to get them back. It's been months since he's talked to anyone other than the waitress at the diner down the road. 

But he won't let it be like that for long. 

\---

Cas' blade is never clean for long these days, and it never leaves his hand, not even in sleep. They're lucky Dean's a human armory; he always keeps knives with him. Right now Cas is trying to find a safe place to for them to rest for a few tense hours. 

Everything is cold and dry in Purgatory. The ground is cold, and unlike the Earth, there is no reassuring warmth deep in its core, no molten heart that Castiel can sense. The trees and the thick plants in the ground have no water in them-it doesn't rain here. He supposes they are like him-alive, but with no need of nourishment. It is both fascinating and disturbing to him. 

Castiel has become accustomed to measuring time without relying on the sun as he did on Earth, and he knows that it's been about as long as a day on Earth since he last slept. The weariness in his bones agrees, as he spent a good many hours with Dean being chased by two shifters. He had always been able to see the true forms of all creatures-but they were always, somehow, less threatening when wrapped in the guise of humanity. 

However, in Purgatory, true forms are exposed and unhidden. The shifters they saw were human-shaped. Castiel had been taught, long ago, that they were born looking like humans-but he'd known what was inside was not human in any way. This was evident when they came closer-the shifters' true forms were nothing but gray, vaguely human shapes. They were blank canvasses just waiting for something-no, someone-to become.

There is no need for food in Purgatory, but the shifters still hungered. Whether it was for a human disguise after so much time bare and unveiled, or maybe just for a meal, Castiel didn't have time to figure out, because the things ran for their throats. 

Dean and Castiel ran, scraping against cold rock and sharp branches. Without silver bullets, they had to go with decapitation, and they ended up sore from running and covered in grayish blood.

All in all, it was not the worst day Castiel has ever had. 

But this does not mean Castiel is without worry. No, he is even more on edge today, after he came to the sinking realization that the number of monsters around them is increasing steadily. The other day, they had finished off a werewolf, a terrifying thing in its true form with its claws and pointed teeth. And before that, there were vampires, and even a shtriga...Dean didn't have to point out that the creatures were coming at them faster. 

"The teamaster said time was running out," Castiel says, absentmindedly pushing away tough leaves. "Do you think that was about the monsters?" Dean asks. "I mean...they're getting bigger and uglier every day. We're not gonna have long before we can't handle 'em all." 

Castiel turns to look at him. "I know. We have to find a way back soon." He goes back to slipping through the dry, tangled branches that spring from every tree, and Dean follows, eyes bright in the darkness. "Yeah, about that. Exactly how are we going to find these Elder Souls? Right now they're our ticket out." 

Two days it's been since Dean reached Sam, and they've been so busy fighting away the monsters, they haven't had time to attempt a connection again. On the first night, Dean was too unsteady, too excited at the prospect of seeing his brother again...the connection failed. But maybe soon they will find a place to rest, and they can try again. 

Castiel was glad to hear of Sam. He knew he was going to be alright. But them, that is a more worrying matter. When they get to shelter, they must try to contact Sam again. Cas knows Dean will try his best to reach Sam. But how they'll get back to him....well, they're still working on that. 

He tells Dean exactly that: they will have to try again tonight. Dean grumbles and curses, and Castiel hates not being able to give Dean an answer, hates how helpless he feels in this loud, dark place.

\---

Earlier:  
Inias wakes up knowing where he is, and more scared than he's ever been. His mouth is dry, and his throat aches with thirst. He isn't thinking too clearly, thoughts of his death, and of what he was taught of Purgatory...it's a lot to handle. He stands up shakily, and sees a river a few feet away. The water is silvery, almost, and it's cold as he drinks from cupped palms. 

The fear seeps from his chest as he drinks, and he becomes calmer. Memory slips away with the fear, but it doesn't matter. He doesn't know why or how he is here, but he's alright with that. He sees rough buildings nearby, a village, and he begins to walk to it. Maybe they can help him find out what his name is-he can't quite remember.

But a pair of red eyes in the plants stops him. Something leaps at him, scratching his face, and Inias finds himself scrambling up a tree to escape a growling beast. 

Later, two men with lines under their eyes find him as he falls from the tree, and the one with blue eyes seems familiar, almost-but he can do nothing but slip into unconsciousness.

\---

Now: 

They find a soft spot underneath some trees that looks promising. It's a rare clearing, and Castiel can see a mountain over the trees. There's no real source of the cold, but that doesn't stop the chill from filling the air and invading every bit of Castiel.The trees are heavy with the cold's drag, and so are they, sliding down against a tree to rest. 

Cas isn't tired, so he keeps watch while Dean sleeps. Dean is breathing deep and slow, and for once, he looks calm, when he shoots up and says "Sam!" 

"Did you see him?" Castiel asks, hope keeping the cold at bay. "Yeah. Yeah, he's here," Dean says, grinning. It feels weird, having someone connected to his mind, but that's just one of the perks of Purgatory, Dean supposes. 

Is Cas alright? Sam asks, between all the other questions he's throwing at Dean. Yeah, Dean reassures him. Sam smiles. 

I found something yesterday, Sam says. He grabs a thick book (and god, there are books everywhere on the bed, when Dean gets back he's making Sam take a break for once) and pages through it anxiously. Earthsmith, he reads. According to this, they're enlightened beings who travel from any place-Heaven, Hell, Purgatory-

Yeah, Dean cuts him off. We know. Okay, Sam says. He wants to know more, but he doesn't know how much time they have left. It says here they "know the way to every place". Sam looks back up at him. Ticket out, I know, Dean says. Does it say how to find them?

It says they're found by light. "Light follows Elder Souls," Sam reads. He holds up an illustration of a glowing person. 

Hope spreads in Dean, because if this is it, then they can get home. Cas smiles as Dean recounts what Sam says to him, and they've got no plan, but they have a goal and it's something. If they can just keep this up, keep talking to Sam and looking in his book that he bought from a witch for a hundred dollars, then they'll have something, Dean thinks.

That is, until a werewolf's howl fills the air. "Wonderful." Cas says, and Dean curses as the connection crumbles.

Dean and Cas protect each others' backs as they run through the trees, dodging claws and teeth, until the creature stops. It looks past Dean, as if it sees something he can't, and it actually whimpers. It turns from Dean and Cas and bolts through the trees, leaving them confused and exhausted. "What the hell?" Dean asks. 

Cas looks behind him, past the tangled trees and moss-covered rocks. There's a small cave, set into the base of the dark mountain dividing the thick group of trees they're stuck in. It's bathed in light, clear against the dark. There are no monsters near the cave-no bright red eyes peering out from the darkness, no growls or hungry noises coming from the leaves. It's completely silent, which is definitely strange for Purgatory. 

The orange glow leads them to a path, where trees give way to the cave's entrance. 

"What do you wanna bet that's where the Elder Souls are holing up?" Dean says. "It's...possible. I don't know what could scare a werewolf like that." Dean moves toward the cave. "It could be dangerous. A trap, even. We don't know what's in there," Cas says. 

Dean grips his knife tighter. "Or it could be our ticket out, Cas. Sam said light follows them, right?" Cas can see he's bent on finding out what's in that cave. "Whatever's in there, it can't be worse than being dinner for the stuff that's out here," Dean says. 

Cas finally nods. "Alright." He keeps his knife close, and they move toward the cave, wincing as the orange light hits their sensitive eyes. "If it turns out to be Gandhi, Sam's gonna geek out so much," Dean says with a grin. They step in together.   
\---

The cave is lit with an orange glow with no apparent source, just like the teamaster's house. There is a man standing in the center, the first person they've seen who looks remotely human in days and days. Well, human except for the light coming from his skin. With his green tunic and black hair, and not a spot of mud or blood on him, he seems so very different from the two of them.

There is something about the man that is familiar to Cas, bringing up memories of ancient paintings and sculptures, of a story that started a very long time ago.

"Orpheus," Cas says. "Yes," the man says. He smiles up at them. "What?" Dean says. Castiel looks more at the man's glow and oh, there is something powerful in him, he can see it. "He's an Elder Soul," Castiel says. 

Castiel knows this tale well. Orpheus had definitely lived an extraordinary enough life to have become an Earthsmith. He had traveled to the Underworld-what the Greeks called Purgatory. He had been the first human ever to achieve this amazing feat-used to be the only one, until Dean. 

"I know a way out," Orpheus says. "That's what you're looking for. What's keeping you out. Stx's river is the only thing separating you from the living world."

"Styx?" Castiel asks. Dread sinks into him.

"What, like the band?" Dean snorts. Orpheus just looks at him. "Styx is a water nymph who guards the river Styx," Cas explains. He sighs distractedly. "I should have expected this. There are myths of a river in Purgatory-Gjoll, Styx, Dante's Eunoe...." He sounds like he's about to go into another tangent on ancient Greece, and Dean's been down that road before, so he interrupts: "It's our ticket out?"

It comes out rushed. He's been trying his hardest to treat this like just another hunt, but he's damned if he's going to waste any more time here.

"Maybe," Castiel says. If he's heard the stories right. "How do we get to it?" he asks Orpheus. 

"Styx is found easily," Orpheus says. "It is the most important part of this place." He leans against the wall of the cave, his golden glow throwing his shadow over the both of them. 

"Purgatory. From the Latin "purgare": to clean, or to purify," Orpheus says. Dean looks at him skeptically. Orpheus continues. "Do you know what this place is really meant for? To purify the souls."

"What, by wiping their memories?" Dean says incredulously. 

"And their pain. Their fear, their guilt, all the weight of their past lives that has been burdening their souls. Something you have failed to let go of, I see," Orpheus says to Dean.

Dean glares at him. "Look, I'm not here to get freaking psychoanalyzed, alright? We just wanna find out how to get out of this place. I don't care if you're an Elder Soul or whatever the hell you are, but if you can help us, then just spit it out, man."

Orpheus smiles still, like this is all a big inside joke that Dean's been left out of. 

It infuriates Dean. They've been running from ugly creatures for days, almost getting killed every other minute, and now all they get is this jerk? Dean wants a refund. 

Cas puts a hand on his shoulder, and Dean breathes deep. Loosens his hand where it was gripping his knife tight enough to bruise. 

"Styx runs across all of Purgatory. You can find it anywhere." Orpheus walks to the edge of the cave's entrance and points. "It's just a matter of seeing it."

Just a few feet away, Dean can hear the sound of water. Cas and him step out, and when they look back, Orpheus is gone, and it is dark again.

\---

Styx is dark and deep and very, very wide. Dean can just barely see the edge of the shore on the other side. The water looks almost black in the darkness. It is not called the river of hate for nothing.

Suddenly a woman appears by the boats, just like that. Like an angel, but without the sound of wings. The woman is wearing jeans and a t-shirt and Dean thinks that maybe she might be an Elder Soul because she's glowing, just a little. Light follows her.

"You must be Styx, then," Dean says, and the woman nods. 

There are two long, wooden boats by their side of the shore-big enough to fit maybe a dozen people in each. Styx leans against one. 

"Oh, we've got some work to do with you," Styx says, looking right at Dean with gray eyes the color of her river. "Can't let go of what the angels have done, can't let go of what his friend's done, and oh, he can't even let go of what he's done," she says. The river pounds and rushes as if agreeing with her.

"Can you get us across or not?" Dean asks. He is tired and he doesn't want to argue anymore, just wants to get out. To see Sam, and to stop running. 

"Yes," Styx says. "I can let you use these boats." She looks at them. "I am busy, you know. Right now, I am taking souls across my river. I am taking vampires to the shore, and at the same time I am crossing with werewolves, and even an angel or two travels with me, right as we speak. And I am also here."

"We're very grateful," Castiel says. He means it. Many people are taken by Styx into Purgatory-not many are lucky enough to be taken out of it.

"So am I. The others are, too, but they hide," Styx says. "They are especially concerned with you, angel. You hurt their home. They are wary, even if you put the pieces back in the end." 

"How many Elder Souls are there?" Cas asks. He can't help but be curious. 

"More than you'll ever meet, angel," she says.

"Will you cross?" Styx asks, staring at Dean and Cas both. "Just give us a sec, alright?" Dean says. He is nervous, head whirling with anxieties and worst-case scenarios. Styx nods, and then she is gone. Cas turns to Dean. "The boats-we can bring the others with us."

Dean frowns. "Are you crazy? We've gotta go now. The monsters are too dangerous, Cas, and we've gotta get back to Sam." As he speaks, he can hear shrieks and howls behind him. 

"We can't go now. The others, they'll be left behind." Cas pauses, frowning. "Was Styx right? Do you still hate the others for what they've done?"

Castiel looks pained, and Dean doesn't want to go on when he's looking at him like that, but the words are already coming out.

"They don't change! No matter what they do, they don't change," Dean says furiously.

"We both know it's not impossible for an angel to change," Cas says. He's sort of smiling like he has ever since they got him from that damn mental hospital, and Dean thinks maybe he always will smile like that, from now on. His voice is strong as he says, "They need our help, Dean. We will get them out of Purgatory, because they can change."

Suddenly Dean sees Amy. How he killed her, how he decided right then and there that there was no going back on what you've done, that the other shoe was always going to drop. He had nightmares about that. Knowing that she's probably here, somewhere, with no memory, has been giving him more these days. 

He's been thinking he was wrong, lately.

They stand there for a while, water rushing around them. 

Dean opens his mouth to speak, but Cas interrupts: "Don't say it's different, because it's not."

Dean laughs. "I was just gonna ask how we were gonna convince 'em to get on the creepy black river with us." He grins. Cas mirrors his smile, but then grows serious. "I expect that they've been struggling with the monsters just as much as we have been. I don't think they would refuse a chance to escape that."

It seems a little less cold as they make their way to the village once again. They hold their breath when they pass the stone dragon, they turn from red eyes in the leaves, and soon they find themselves facing the familiar orange lanterns of the village.

It turns out Castiel was right-when they get there, every angel in the village is already outside, bows and arrows poised. Gabriel, Balthazar, even Inias, who seems to have healed a bit since they first found him. Anna looks at them nervously. 

"Dean, Castiel. Were you followed?" She takes a deep breath. "Sorry. It's just...we've been overwhelmed." The angels behind her stare at Dean, eyes tired and hands caked with dirt and blood. They look like they could use some good news.

"We've found a way out of Purgatory," Cas says.

\---

By the time Dean and Cas explain their plan to everyone, it's well past time to rest. Most of the angels have gone to sleep, except for a few guards, and even Dean is snoring in one of the log houses nearby, knife under his pillow. The center of the village is lit by lanterns, but every once in a while sounds come from the trees, too close for any kind of peace. Balthazar has a small flask with him, and he drinks from it while telling how they've all been; Cas has been worried. 

"The monsters are even coming into the village now. Even Kaidus says we have to leave soon. The others are cautious about this river you two were going on about, but they're scared, too." Balthazar takes another swig of the water. "They'll take the risk." 

Cas frowns. "Why are you drinking? There is no need in this place." 

"Well, yes, but we all still feel thirst. We still get hungry, and thirsty, and generally feel like crap, even though it won't kill us." He snorts. "But where did you get the water?" Cas asks. "This little river by the village. That's where we all get our water." He stops at Castiel's look. "What? What's wrong?" 

"Show me the river," Cas demands. 

It's the first water Castiel has seen in a long time, other than the darkness of Styx's river, but it only fills him with more dread. As soon as he sees the silvery water, he knows. He's heard of this before, back when the people who believed in it were more than museum exhibits. "Lethe," he says. "What?" Balthazar asks.

"Lethe. The river of oblivion. Whoever drinks from it loses their memory." Balthazar frowns at his canteen and chucks it into the river. "Well, that's disappointing. Damn it, Cassie, are you saying we've all been losing our marbles over a river?"

"Yes. You all need to stop drinking it. Intense emotion will help, but the only thing to keep your memory permanently with you is to stop drinking Lethe's water."

Lethe runs as far as the eye can see-and Castiel knows it goes across the whole of Purgatory, all the better to tempt the thirsty. They must have been drinking from it ever since they got here, unknowingly. 

"How do you know all this?" Balthazar asks. "I was taught about Purgatory when I was younger." You were, too, Castiel stops himself from adding. 

\---

The others are first upset that they did not know of Lethe, and then uncomfortable at the thought of remembering who they used to be. But they all stop drinking the silvery water. Purgatory might be for purification, but Castiel won't let them stick around long enough for that to happen again. 

As he watches Castiel talking with Azrael and Anna about their plan, Dean is again struck at how wrong he was about change. He knows he's changed, and hell, the angels have changed too-and so has Cas. He remembers thinking Cas couldn't be saved, after all the lies and everything he'd done behind their back. But he's seen a lot since then, and he doesn't think he could ever believe that, now.

\---

When they get there, the water is just as dark, and the boats are just big enough to fit all of them in the glow of the lanterns. Styx is not there, but the river roars around them, and Castiel knows she is here, somewhere. There are paddles in the boats, and they begin to cautiously row away.

They cross the river silently in the darkness, but when they see the shore just a few feet away, they all light up with obvious excitement that is louder than words. Dean trips over the boat's edge, slips on the rocks under the inch or two of blackish water that leads to the shore, and finally steps onto land.

That's when things start to get hazy. He can barely hear the splashing and the sound of worn shoes on rock behind him, and everything gets blurry. He looks at his hands, and they're transparent and fading fast. Cas is beginning to blur, too, fraying at the edges. The other angels have reached the shore, and they're just as incredulous as Dean is at the transition happening right in front of their eyes. 

Then Dean can't see anything at all, and he's going, going, gone, like he's on angel air with Cas, only with that damn white flash that matches the one that got them stuck in Purgatory in the first place.

And then the gray water and the blackened trees are replaced with crappy motel lighting and rough carpet, and they're standing in a motel. With all of their limbs, even. 

"Dean!" Sam shoots up from the chair he was dozing on. He stares incredulously at them for a few seconds before yanking Dean into a hug. They must look like hell-a dozen angels in muddied robes, an unshaven Dean with bite marks on his arms, and Cas, who is smiling at Sam as he pulls him into a hug, too. 

The angels look that much more beaten-Purgatory's effects wearing off, Dean guesses. When Sam questions them they look up-they finally know their real names again. 

This is definitely going to take a while. 

Dean thinks about what Styx and Orpheus said. About how he hadn't let go of his past. After all this time, and everything that's happened, he thinks he can let go of it-everything that was between him and Cas. Then again, there's an itch, a small voice in the back of his head that tells him it's still the same, that he's the same man he always was.

But he's been wrong before.


End file.
